BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Tuesday urged the Congress government in Telangana to support the powerloom weavers of Sircilla who once again were facing a severe crisis due to the lack of fresh orders and piling up of old stocks.

The former minister represents the Sircilla Assembly constituency in Karimnagar district which is considered as the textile hub of Telangana. Situated at the banks of Manair, Sircilla had witnessed suicides by loom workers and owners in the 1990s and 2000s precipitated by power crisis in the unified state of Andhra Pradesh.

However after formation of Telangana, the powerloom sector got revived in Sircilla due to the BRS government’s scheme of placing bulk orders for one crore sarees every year, which was worth more than Rs 350 crore. The sarees were distributed among women during Bathukamma festival as well as Ramzan and Christmas. The government has also placed bulk orders for fabric for making uniforms for government school students. Nearly 25,000 families in Sircilla are dependent on powerlooms.

The BRS is now apprehensive that since the constituency has elected Rao, the Congress government might neglect the Bathukamma saree scheme leading to a doom for the powerloom sector at Sircilla. The Polyester Clothes Association of Sircilla recently announced the shutdown of powerlooms post Sankranti due to a lack of fresh orders and piling up of old stocks.

“The home grown talented powerloom weavers of Sircilla have seen great growth and expansion since the formation of Telangana with the active support of the state government. My request to the Congress government is to continue and strengthen the sector more as it has the potential to grow and compete with Tirupur cluster in Tamil Nadu. Hearing stories of distress setting in yet again which can be disastrous for the sector,” wrote KT Rama Rao on the social media platform ‘X’.

The crisis faced by the weavers of Sircilla due to lack of orders from the government was exacerbated by the huge drop in fabric prices in both domestic and international markets. Powerlooms in the Sircilla textile park also ceased operations from the first week of January. The downturn had begun during the pandemic and afterwards the increased cost of yarn and chemicals made production further unsustainable.

Although the BRS government had done its bit to sustain the powerloom sector, it did not grant the power tariff subsidies as demanded by the weavers like Maharashtra and Karnataka.